The Commonwealth Short Story Prize started in 2012 with the launch of Commonwealth Writers. Free to enter and with a global reach across five continents, the Prize seeks out talented writers and brings stories from new and emerging voices to an international audience.
Stories often come from countries with little or no publishing infrastructure and places marked by geographical, geopolitical, or economic isolation. The Prize now attracts between 6,000 and 7,000 entries each year from almost all of the 54 countries of the Commonwealth. It is awarded for the best piece of unpublished short fiction.
Commonwealth Writers is the cultural initiative of the Commonwealth Foundation. They inspire and connect writers and storytellers worldwide, bringing personal stories to a global audience.
Aim and Benefits of Commonwealth Short Story Prize
- Each regional winner receives £2,500, and their story is published online in Granta, the magazine of new writing.
- One of the regional winners is then selected as the overall winner, who receives £5,000 – one of the highest amounts for an international prize for unpublished short stories.
Requirements for Commonwealth Short Story Prize Qualification
- Entrants must be citizens of a Commonwealth country or stateless persons currently residing in a Commonwealth country. The Commonwealth Foundation will request verification of citizenship status before winners are selected. Entries from citizens of non-Commonwealth countries are not eligible.
- For regional purposes, entries will be judged by country of citizenship. Where the writer has dual citizenship (of two Commonwealth countries), the entry will be judged in the region where the writer is permanently resident.
- There is no requirement for the writer to have current residence in a Commonwealth country, providing that they are a citizen of a Commonwealth country.
- Entrants must be aged 18 years or over on November 1, 2022.
- Entries from previous overall winners of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize are not eligible. Entries from previous regional winners are eligible.
- Entries from current members of staff at the Commonwealth Foundation are not eligible.
- Entries must be unpublished and remain unpublished in any language until May 1, 2023.
- As well as English, stories are accepted in the Bengali, Chinese, French, Greek, Kiswahili, Malay, Portuguese, Samoan, Tamil, and Turkish languages. Translated entries from any language into English are also eligible. If the winning story is a translation, the translator receives the additional prize money.
- Deadline: November 1, 2022.
Entries must be submitted via the online entry form by November 1, 2022 (11.59 pm in any time zone). No entries will be considered if submitted after this date.
